Author: Rohit Parihar
Publication: India Today
Date: February 25, 2008
URL: http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=1&task=view&id=4605§ionid=24&issueid=41&latn=2
Introduction: An organization working for
the handicapped takes the science of artificial limbs forward
It is probably the only city in the world
to have lent its name to a prosthetic, but now limbs other than foot-like
a Jaipur knee or wheelchair-may soon be associated with the pink city.
The leader of the team that invented the Jaipur
foot, Dr P.K. Sethi, died recently but the organisation which helped make
it a reality, the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, is still working
to take this legacy forward.
The Samiti, founded in 1975 by retired IAS
officer D.R. Mehta runs institutes in its endeavour to provide low-cost limbs
and tools to the physically challenged.
In January, Steve Goldband, director of private
sector initiatives, Centre on Longevity, Stanford University, US, visited
the Samiti to assess its functioning. Also on the agenda was development of
low-cost above-knee limb replacement. "Our major challenge is to create
a cheaper version of an above-knee limb," says Goldband.
Work on this project is proceeding at a brisk
pace. The needy will be identified in Jaipur through video conferencing and
trials of the prototype will take place here. "It may turn out to be
as revolutionary as the invention of the Jaipur foot," says Mehta.
In what could be a major diversification project
for the Samiti, production of low-cost, high quality wheelchairs is also set
to begin soon in collaboration with Whirlwind Wheelchair International, US,
a non-profit organisation.
The initial numbers to be produced, within
a year if everything goes on schedule, are slated to be 500 chairs a month.
The Samiti will donate 150 chairs to Iraq through the Joint Iraqi Development
and Unity Foundation which provides chairs for exports.
At present the Samiti procures and donates
100 wheelchairs every month. Mehta says last year the organisation donated
20,000 limbs compared to 8,800 by an international agency like the Red Cross.
Besides providing the Jaipur foot and wheelchairs,
the Samiti caters to the needs of the handicapped by giving them calipers
and hearing aids also.
As the number of the Samiti's beneficiaries
crosses a million mark, a retired Mehta-who also headed the Securities and
Exchange Board of India- has reason to smile. Having been conferred the Padma
Vibhushan on Republic Day this year, Mehta says "it is crucial for us
to move ahead and tie up with the best in the world to improve upon technology."
He nearly lost a limb in an accident in Jaisalmer
decades ago. But that miraculous escape seems to have become a source of inspiration
for him to do the same for others.
